The present application claims priority of Italian Utility Model Application No. PD98U000053.
The present invention relates to a water and/or liquid foodstuff dispenser for small pets.
It is known that pets, usually small ones, kept in cages or similar confinement structures, are currently particularly popular.
In order to ensure optimum living conditions to these pets, various devices have been conceived for dispensing liquid foodstuffs, particularly water, and feeds.
In particular, in order to harmonize the time requirements of the owners of the pets with the needs of said pets as regards drinking, which is often frequent, water and/or liquid foodstuff dispensers have been conceived which can be substantially used by the pets without the aid of a human being.
Such dispensers are in fact provided in such a manner that the pet quickly learns to use them.
Nowadays, despite the variety of models commercially available, the structure of conventional dispensers is substantially constituted by a container which is associated, at its bottom, with a dispensing device which also acts as plug for the container.
In particular, the dispensing device is substantially constituted by a tubular element which is often made of metal, is inclined with respect to the horizontal and is closed, at its free end, by a ball which remains in a closure position substantially by gravity.
When the pet is thirsty, it learns to push the ball up, thus achieving a flow of liquid.
However, although this solution is valid from a merely functional point of view, in practice the closure by means of the ball is not substantially effective from the point of view of hydraulic tightness.
Practical application has in fact shown that this type of dispenser is in fact subject to a continuous loss of liquid, which must be replenished frequently and often, by dripping into the cage when the pet is not drinking, soils the bottom of the cage.
Moreover, by closing the container at the bottom by means of the dispensing device, conventional dispensers, in order to be replenished with liquid foodstuff, must be removed from the cage or similar structure to be filled and then repositioned on the cage, with a considerable waste of time and a certain complexity of the operation.